


JERSEY [KuroTsuki]

by orphan_account



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Canon ages, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, VOLLEYBALLLLLLL, gayyyy, kuroo is closeted, ooooo tons of fluff slipped in tho bcz im not that mean, tsukki is questioning!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:15:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22688347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: volleyball, nightmares, & homosexual tendencies.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei
Comments: 3
Kudos: 59





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> here’s one of my works that i’ve recently transferred from my old wattpad. it isn’t the best work of mine, but it is incomplete. i have the motivation to finish it, so do not worry.

a training camp.

tsukishima would be lying his fucking ass off if he said he was excited. hell, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't absolutely _dreading_ it. see, it doesn't take a genius to know that a training camp means new people and new people mean interaction. usually, yamaguchi would be there for him in times like this but, after a math exam, volleyball practice, an hour and a half of project work, and a two hour bus drive at 8pm, he was knocked out cold in the seat beside him. tsukishima didn't mind it, though, since he'd planned on catching a few z's once the bus drive was over and they'd finished greeting the other teams at the camp.

so there he sat as the bus came to a full stop, flicking yamaguchi's forehead to bring him to a rushed awakening followed by a scurry out of the van as they hurried to greet the other teams before bed. tsukishima half-assed the whole greeting process, as expected. rushing a " _hello_. _nice_ _to_ _meet_ _you_ , _i_ _guess_ ," to anyone who approached him and the visibly groggy yamaguchi tadashi. to anyone, his responses would seem rude, but to the barely-working eardrums of his campmates, his backhanded compliments simply floated above their heads.

overall, the hello-process had gone way simpler than expected and tsukishima headed towards their shared room (lead by daichi and who tsukishima was only 60% sure was nekoma's captain) more content than usual.

at half past 10pm, tsukishima removed his headphones from his pale ears and sat up straight from his sleeping bag. the sound of near-silence stuffed with low snores and the hushed noise of kenma's game console thumped against his eardrums and he took it as a sign that his campmates had all gone to bed (minus one, of course, but he doubted kenma was much trouble anyways.)

tsukishima hadn't seen much of nekoma's campus earlier because of how late they'd arrived but, how bad would it be to wander a bit now that everyone had knocked out anyways? the tall blonde walked cooly, as always, but was weary of his surroundings as not to get lost when he'd come back to sleep in thirty or so minutes. after about ten minutes of wandering he'd made it to the school gyms, but stood still at the unmistakable sound of volleyball's smacking against the wood flooring accompanied by the squeak of athletic shoes.

who'd be dumb enough to play this late? and on the night before their first official day of camp? tsukishima's first instinct had been to turn back around and avoid being caught up and about by some seniors from who-knows-what school. but by the time his instinct had kicked in, he had already been caught by the booming voice of someone he couldn't say he'd met before.

> "oi, you! hey, what're you doin' out so late?"

ignore it. tsukishima thought to himself, continuing to walk past the gym entrance. he had two choices, turn at that corner and get lost trying to make his way back to the shared room or turn around, face the yelling voice head-on and get back to their shared room with his knowledge from earlier. both seemed too risky. his thoughts raced as he tried to think something up quick but somehow he'd forgotten to think to move his legs as well, standing still at the corner with slightly wide eyes as he stared at his feet.

> "hey, with the glasses? you good?"
> 
> "...yes."
> 
> "huh? can't hear you."
> 
> "i'm good, i said i'm good!"

tsukishima raised his voice, still not having turned around as to avoid any possible confrontation coming his way.

> "ah, that's great. you're from karasuno right? mind turning around and jumping some blocks for us?"

tsukishima knew it was time he turned around, having his mind made up. he didn't know who us was, neither why they'd ask him of all people to jump blocks. not like he'd say yes anyways.

though once he'd turned, he was met by the face of who he'd earlier labeled as maybe-nekoma's-captain, entirely unaware of his name. not that a label like that mattered though. he didn't plan on getting on a name-basis with anyone here anyways, much less talking to them but, there he was. from the looks of him, _he's_ _your_ _senior_. _don't_ _be_ _rude_ , _don't_ _be_ _rude_.

> "ah, thank you for the offer but i was just looking around. i'm actually heading to bed now."

he feigned the best smile he could, scratching the back of his neck. someone appeared from behind maybe-nekoma's-captain, whining at tsukishima's response.

> "c'monnn, if you're gonna prance and frolick around at ass-o'clock at least help out your seniors! what's the point of doing spiking practice if only one person blocks?"

his words were harsh but the childish tone of his voice somehow made them more tolerable, just barely getting under tsukishima's thick skin enough to make him say yes.

> "ah, calm down, bokuto. he's probably tired, we'll catch someone to block for you tomorrow."

maybe-nekoma's-captain reassured, patting bokuto on the back as he flashed a cheesy grin. tsukishima grimaced inwardly, continuing to walk away.

before he had left entirely, he'd felt a tap on his shoulder. startled, he whipped around only to see the bedheaded half-captain. what did he want? yea, tsukishima was lying about going to bed just seconds ago but after all of that talking he sure felt a hunger for sleep.

> "you'll block with us tomorrow, right?"
> 
> "i'll be tired after practice. just ask someone from another team."

so much for not being rude, stingyshima.

> "i could ask around but that'd be boring and anyways, tall guys like you are usually fun. but on top of that, you still gotta make up for ditching us tonight."
> 
> "tch... so persistent."

tsukishima groaned at the wide, mischievous grin stretching across the half-captain's face. captain or not, this guy sure was troublesome and tsukishima, quite frankly, wanted none of it.

> "i'll take that as a yes, hm? then i'll be seeing you tomorrow, megane-kun."

he turned around, and tsukishima stood still, staring back at his broad, muscular retreating frame slowly become smaller until he'd turned into the gym. he peaked his head out the gym door for a second, winking before popping back inside. the echo of the slamming metal doors made tsukishima jump as he began to walk away himself, mind spilling over as he recalled their conversation and how small he felt next to the half-captain, despite him being a noticeable two or so inches taller.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy valentines day, everyone.

practice had gone fine in tsukishima's opinion, though his teammates begged to differ. they'd lost all but one game and despite that single win, they'd still been victim to five penalty laps and quite the teasing from the opposing teams, though they all agreed that none of the teasing was quite as obnoxious as bokuto's. it seemed that his pointing and endless chants proclaiming his superiority as fukurodani's ace could only be tolerable for so long.

they'd gone to eat their meal, and while everyone seemed to scarf down twice the recommended helping of rice and meat, tsukishima picked at half of the recommended serving size in fear of tearing his stomach in half. him and yamaguchi sat alone but after a few minutes too long of silence, yamaguchi apologized to tsukishima and went to eat with hinata and the other first years. tsukishima didn't mind, and although he didn't show it he was glad yamaguchi had started talking to people other than him. it was bittersweet, knowing that yamaguchi and him were growing older as the days passed and yamaguchi no longer depended on him like he used to.

tsukishima probably would've drowned in his half-sweet thoughts if it weren't for the tray slammed in front of him, a strong gust of cologne burning the hairs in his nostrils. he grimaced, looking up from the food displayed before him to meet the eyes of the half-captain. "you eat so little. no wonder you tire easily."

tsukishima looked at him and scrunched his face into a look of utter discomfort and disgust, "my apologies?" his tone was bitter and obviously not apologetic, though his blunt sarcasm didn't seem to hurt the half-captain much. it was confusing, how he could invite himself over to tsukishima's table so comfortably despite not knowing him whatsoever.

"apology not accepted." nekoma's bedheaded beauty scoffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he feigned a look of hurt. tsukishima thought to himself, irritated. how childish. bokuto came over, dragging fukurodani's setter (unnamed, still) along with him. he'd positioned them so they all sat on one side of the table and tsukishima, the lone wolf, sat alone on his side.

"tch." tsukishima curled his upper lip and turned away. as childish as it was, he had began to wish yamaguchi would quit his growing up and save him already. tsukishima picked at the left over food on his own plate and stared down at the table to avoid any other possible conversation.

"you're practicing with us after dinner today, right?" bokuto asked, grinning wide and expectantly. tsukishima didn't care for hurting feelings, knowing it was simply his nature to step on the hearts of the fragile and unrealistic.

"no. i'm going to shower and go to bed."

"ahh, megane-kun, you really are a piece of work." bokuto stated, sighing, and tsukishima felt himself cringe at the nickname that seemed to be catching on amongst the three. he felt he'd been made fun of and instantly felt the strange need to defend himself, no matter how pathetic it sounded.

"don't call me that. my name's tsukishima."

"we knew that already." the unnamed fukurodani setter muttered, tone flat but clearly showing slight amusement in tsukishima's obliviousness.

"well then, tsukishima, my name is kuroo."

tsukishima shook his head in annoyance and stood up, tray in hand. "what's it matter? not like i asked." he left the table, an audible silence hushing over the surrounding two tables as well as their own as the tension seemed to rise by 200%. kuroo grabbed his shoulder for the second time since they'd first met, causing chills to run down the blonde's spine as he turned slowly, careful not to spill his half eaten tray of vegetables and rice.

"you didn't ask, but you wanted to know. don't lie."

no response. tsukishima gripped the side of his tray, he could smell kuroo's cologne even stronger this time. he was too close.

"i'll see you tonight, megane-kun."

kuroo then abruptly let go of his shoulders and went back to eat. tsukishima shook his head and went to dump his tray, knowing damn well he wouldn't practice with his raven-headed senior that night.

and he didn't.

it was a few hours past midnight and tsukishima was having trouble sleeping. he'd woken up approximately an hour prior because of hinata and kageyama's sleep-bickering (who even does that? idiots.) and had since been laying wide-eyed as his much-loved slumber danced out of the stuffy shared room and into the air conditioned hall. tsukishima decided he'd continue where he'd left off yesterday, still wanting to explore the campus a bit to get himself tired enough for bed.

when he came across the gym, it was silent. that was expected, of course, since nobody in the right mind would practice at 2am, no matter how driven.

though to tsukishima's surprise, the door was open just a sliver, just enough for him to see inside without much trouble. he decided a little snooping wouldn't hurt, since it was highly unlikely that anyone was in there anyways. his left eye squinted as his right stared in through the crack, revealing the bright gym and- was that kuroo?

he sat with his back against the wall, volleyball clutched to his chest as he stared at the wall parallel to the one he'd been laying against across the gym. his eyes were bloodshot as if he'd either been crying, was crying, or hadn't slept in ages. the glistening rosiness of his cheeks told tsukishima that maybe it had been all three. he was rocking back and forth slowly, eyes wide open and expression blank. he looked terrifying, but it was a bit worrying — even to someone of tsukishima's nature.

tsukishima grimaced, wondering whether he should be peeping into that sort of thing. there was kuroo — his senior and captain to the team all of karasuno had both befriended and sworn to defeat — in what tsukishima guessed was his most vulnerable state.

tsukishima felt guilty for looking and thus decided to head back to bed. maybe he'd explore the campus some other time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you all enjoyed this chapter as well. next chapter will be out soon as i am currently working on transferring it off of my last platform. 
> 
> please enjoy this special day with your loved ones!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welp.

tsukishima slept well that night, though when he'd woken up he couldn't help but wonder whether or not kuroo had gotten any sleep that night.

at 7am, tsukishima sat with his back against the hall wall waiting for the bathroom to be free so he could wash up. the towel draped on his shoulder began to itch and his thoughts felt as though they were racing more than usual. 

despite still wearing his usual cold, uninviting blank glance, tsukishima's brain was weighing him down. it was unlike him to care so much, especially upon just meeting someone. hell, he didn't even care much when he first met yamaguchi and had only came to care for him after he'd gotten to  really  know him. so why'd he care if kuroo couldn't sleep? he could just be an insomniac or something. and really it was none of his business. 

he'd decided, while washing his wet blonde locks in the loud silence of the shower, that that night he'd practice with  them.  but just that once. after all, he owed it to them. tsukishima would help block a few of bokuto's spikes, tire himself, and then maybe he'd be able to sleep a little better that night. he'd figured that he wasn't going to come for kuroo or because he'd felt some sort of pity towards having had witnessed him so vulnerable the other night, he was doing it to help  himself  sleep. because in all honesty, he could care less if the bedheaded captain slept. tsukishima thought that as long as kuroo's sleep deprivation didn't impose some sort of negative effect on him in anyway, it didn't matter. 

he'd been thinking about him simply because he felt  pity.  nothing caring at all. 

tsukishima ate dinner alone that day, having had waved off yamaguchi before even getting a tray of food knowing that yamaguchi would be hanging out with the other first years. tsukishima was beginning to think that maybe he should do the same, as it would help distract him from his own airy thoughts. but he'd quickly dismissed the idea as he found the other first years much to hard to be around and would rather be alone than annoyed.

despite this, the first years still beckoned him over (probably per yamaguchi's request) and he obliged out of pure boredom. he ate his dinner and didn't speak a word to the three seniors who had so eagerly approached him the other day.

after eating, tsukishima went down to the gymnasium (though it took a lot of emotional labor.) he didn't necessarily want to be there but knew deep down that it'd be good to help battle his recent tossing and turning at 3am.

tsukishima opened the door, towel tossed over his shoulder and water bottle in hand just as bokuto spiked the ball with great force, nearly making it passed kuroo's effective blocking. when bokuto had landed on his two feet along with kuroo on the other side of the net, akaashi (the setter, recently named thanks to bokuto's eager yells from an earlier practice match) nudged bokuto's shoulder and pointed at the opening gym doors. kuroo smirked, a glint in his eyes that tsukishima found incredibly hard to read, but maybe that was just because he could only think of the dull, lifeless eyes he'd gazed upon the other day.

"finally made it?" kuroo spoke up, hand on his hip as he turned his head to the left. tsukishima felt small under his gaze, bowing slightly out of respect. 

"um, yes, you did say i owe it to you."

"you didn't seem like the type to care for that sort of thing. glad you could come around."

bokuto snuck himself underneath the net so he could greet the blonde middle blocker, nearly flattening his signature spiky hair with it. "ah, megane-kun! you decided to come after all!"

tsukishima stared back at bokuto, blank-faced. "my name is tsukishima."

bokuto mirrored his unimpressed expression, retorting with equal force. "megane-kun."

tsukishima would have replied but he sensed that bokuto's tone was leaning towards that of a statement and decided not to argue for now. he scoffed lowly under his breath as akaashi spoke up from the other side of the net. "are we going to start? we have to clean up the gym in a little over an hour."

at that, they resumed practice with kuroo and tsukishima on one side of the net and bokuto and akaashi on the other. tsukishima wasn't quite fond of being on the same side as kuroo, especially when he'd nearly injured his finger trying to block one of bokuto's stronger spikes (as if they weren't all unreasonably strong...)

when his feet landed on the ground he grasped his wrist and stared at his reddening right ring finger, cursing under his breath at how it stung. "shit." kuroo, who had been standing beside him and was already at his aid, looked down with slightly worried eyes. 

"what's wrong?"

"nothing."

"you hurt yourself."

"there was no need to ask if you already knew."

"dramatic effect, i guess?" kuroo replied, flashing a grin before running over to his gym bag and pulling out some bandages. he jogged back, akaashi and bokuto already next to tsukishima. bokuto applogized lightly, while the setter simply stood still, calm and collected. it wasn't a serious injury, they all knew that. but they'd tend to it nonetheless, so that it wouldn't become something much worse later. 

"you don't have to. i can do it myself," tsukishima stated as kuroo took his hand into his own and began taping his two fingers together. 

"yea, i know, but i'm doing it already, aren't i?"

"tch."  so troublesome.

they'd practiced for ten minutes past tsukishima getting bandaged, decided to clean up earlier than usual so that they could get some rest in before practice games tomorrow. bokuto had eagerly recommended that tsukishima come again tomorrow night, mentioning how much fun he'd had and how he  should be grateful to practice with such a wise senior.  tsukishima mumbled, unsure whether he'd take up the offer this time since today hadn't been nearly as bad as he'd expected. 

the net had been taken down, volleyballs placed in the cart and then in the storage room. by then, any thoughts of the lifeless captain he'd seen the other day had simply passed tsukishima's mind. when akaashi and bokuto said their farewells and headed back for bed, tsukishima kneeling at his practice back as he packed the last of his things, kuroo's mood changed noticeably. it was only the two of them in the gym, silence playing to the beat of tsukishima's bag zipper.

kuroo had packed his own bag already and now sat beside it, back against the wall. tsukishima glanced over at him, noting that the position was entirely identical to that of the other night. tsukishima began to unconsciously pack up quicker, not wanting to stay for longer than needed. he'd then slung his bag over his shoulder and headed for the door. alarmed by the sound of shoes against the wood flooring then by the familiar touch of a certain rooster-head's hand on his shoulder, tsukishima turned slowly. he could feel the hesitance in the raven haired captain's actions as he slowly retreated his hand back to his side and faced tsukishima, eye contact firm as usual. 

"would you mind staying a bit longer?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)


End file.
